[quote]Originally posted by ibook22:
<strong>I gues they say that all new ibooks will ship with combo drives....
believable? I think so..:
<a href="http://www.spymac.com" target="_blank">http://www.spymac.com</a></strong><hr></blockquote>

"You heard it here first"? Every other rumor site has already reported with much certainty that the new ibooks were coming in multiple colors. A logical way of thinking would be Apple would limit the drives to cut down on models.

I'm guessing if this is true, they're gonna nab the credit given all the attention they've drawn to themselves away from other rumor sites, then claim that the iWalk isn't ready yet. They gain loads of new clueless followers as a result, more media attention, and more ad revenues. How devilish.

Look, they can say "iBooks start at $1299" only because of the CD-ROM version. The combo-drive version sells for $1699. That's not exactly cheap. There are plenty of schools, for one thing, that have no interest in stocking a lab full of CD-burning, DVD-watching computers.

the cd will eventually be going the way of the floppy. And now with the fairly recent intro of dvd-r drives aka superdrives burning of dvd-r media is brought to the home user. whats the point in having half of the computers you sell not able to read the media that the other half can write.

I say add the combo drive, but dont raise costs too terribly much. What if the iBook was $1399 for a combo drive, radeon graphics, 700MHz(at least) 10GB hard drive, and 128Mb of ram? Would you be willing to buy it then?

Hey they could even offer an education only model that has a cd-rw or plain dvd drive for $1249 - $1299 and now the education market is even happier?

[quote]Originally posted by Mithras:
<strong>Well, one reason people might not want a DVD/CDRW combo drive is...

... COST!

Look, they can say "iBooks start at $1299" only because of the CD-ROM version. The combo-drive version sells for $1699. That's not exactly cheap. There are plenty of schools, for one thing, that have no interest in stocking a lab full of CD-burning, DVD-watching computers.</strong><hr></blockquote>

Hard not to agree! The low price also brings you in to consider it. Apple could have the entry level one be available only to education or BTO... This also could answer the "No floppy" worries - just burn a CD on any iBook!

-JD-- "If Apple wasn't so greedy, they would build G6's and give them away!"

Spymac could have a point. But... does Apple have enough PPC's to distinguish the model on speed and color? If Sahara is ready, they probably do, if not, then it only spans from 500 to 700 max. 100 Mz increments at 200 extra a pop kinda ruins the formula they have now, and a lot of the iBook's appeal -- being able to get a top performer at a decent price with the DVD model.

I think a better interm strategy for all macs would be to drop the CD-rom models from the line-up and move DVD models into that low-end price range. (at this point a reader can't cost that much more than a CD reader) They could instead have only two optical models for the consumer: DVD or Combo, and two for the Professional Combo or Super. Ten, within each model line-up they make their distinctions with small speed increments and significant RAM and HDD differences.

[quote]Originally posted by Majuki:
<strong>So, who would make Spymac remove the photos and videos? That's a load of bs. Apple legal is the only thing that comes to mind, yet wouldn't they make spymac remove the OS 10.2 photos as well? </strong><hr></blockquote>

Note how Wired still has a mirror archive of the videos and photos and has till now still not been contacted by Apple legal? They would be smart enough to take them down - if Apple cared at all, which they don't since they're fakes.

12:40 p.m. Jan. 3, 2002 PST
A Macintosh rumor site has posted pictures and videos of a new Apple device called the "iWalk," which purports to be a personal digital assistant to be unveiled on Monday at Macworld Expo.

so they have been up for over 24 hrs at wired without apple jumping on them...g

I think that a big reason why the iBook sold was because it was so simple to choose which model you wanted. Want to burn CD's? get the CDRW model! watch DVDs? get the DVD model! Dont care about either? get the CD-Rom model! etc.

Moving away from this will only make things more complicated to both produce and sell...

Actually, I think the iMac will adopt this approach to things to keep manuf. (can someone PLEASE spell this word for me?) costs down.